Student Creates Online Store
Ricky Podsiadlo knows what students need in Syracuse – winter hats.
Podsiadlo, a junior information technology major, was sitting in class when he thought of the idea to create a Web site that sells winter hats – which are a must-have during the harsh winter months.
‘Yeah I was in De Julio’s [Army Navy Store], and they had winter hats so that’s where the main idea sparked from,’ he said.
He chose to call his new creation the Winter Hat Shoppe (winterhatshoppe.com), an online store where customers can purchase winter hats with prices ranging from $4.99 to $12.99.
‘What I did was I just visited other online winter hat stores, and I priced them competitively with how they’re pricing theirs, you know?’ he said. ‘I researched the market basically.’
The site features nearly 60 options for hats, with categories ranging from classic beanies to ski and snowboard hats to Innova Performance caps.
‘I got them from a knitting factory in New Jersey, in Westville,’ he said. ‘I purchased each hat in bulk.’
He began selling hats in 2006 on eBay, but he knew shortly after he wanted to run his own shop. He spent the entire winter break planning the site, all the while sorting out 300 plus hats to plug on the site.
‘Well, first I needed to get the basic Web design down, so I did that, and then once I had that done, I did all the coding, and after that I ordered all the products, and I took all the pictures and I assembled everything from there,’ he said.
Michel Benaroch, professor of management information systems, said there are more elements to online shopping than the site itself. ‘It has to do also with the products you’re selling and who you’re targeting and how you bring it to their attention, so that’s a whole different ballgame,’ he said.
Jag Sivakumar, a master’s student in information management at the iSchool, had some advice for building a solid online business.
‘First of all it depends on how well you advertise about your Web site,’ he said. ‘People should know that you have the Web site up there and how it can serve people’s requirement, and it’s more about managing too many people coming to the Web site.
‘So, it involves a lot from how you design the Web site and how user-friendly it is and what kind of technology you use to get the Web site done,’ Siyakumar said.
Sivakumar seemed to believe in Podsiadlo’s overall cause. ‘The name is a good idea,’ he said.
While the site offers shipment in one to two business days, Podsiadlo isn’t planning on making money anytime soon.
‘I’m just waiting for some sales,’ he said. ‘I just started advertising with Google AdWords so we’ll see where that goes.’
If anything, Podsiadlo wants customers to visit his site for the service.
‘When I get an order, I ship it out right away,’ he said. ‘That’s one of the things I pride myself on, which is a big deal especially when you’re ordering stuff online.’
Published on February 19, 2008 at 12:00 pm
